Stars

NSSDCA/COSPAR ID: 2009-002G

Description

Seven microsatellites were deployed as piggyback payloads to the Ibuki spacecraft. All of these spacecraft will follow a similar roughly 660 km sun-synchronous orbit. Six of the small satellites were developed by universities and private-sector companies; the seventh is a technology demonstrator for JAXA.

Stars, also known as Kukai after a famous priest and calligrapher, is a pair of tethered satellites built by Kagawa University. The two units are tethered to each other with strands of synthetic fiber, and a camera built into the smaller unit is designed to photograph the other unit in space. The satellite will explore the possibility of using the technique to examine the outer walls of space stations.